Now it's the blueberries

Remember?  Just a little while back it was the cherries.   And now, they must step aside and make room for another GroveAtopian summertime treat: the blueberries.

This picture is a meager attempt to capture my favorite blueberry picking spot.  It's out near Lorane.  

You can get there by either taking the regular way, which is out CG-Lorane highway, or you can take the adventurous way and take Gowdyville Road all the way.  If you've never done that, you owe it to yourself.  The road is gravel most of the way, but don't let that bother you.  You can do it.

Either route will take you to the blueberries, just follow the signs.  When you get there, you will be greeted by no less than 288 50 year old blueberry bushes, bursting with big, fat, juicy blueberries.  

You can have as many as you can pick.  They are $2 a pound and sold completely on the honor system.  There are buckets there, a produce scale, a pen and paper for you to record how many you picked and a coffee can to put your money in.  All blueberry transactions take place on the porch.  

When I was out there today, the person before me had earned the title of blueberry picking champion to date by picking 16.5 lbs.  The person before that picked about 3 lbs.  We picked 5, and I don't know how many the couple who came after us picked.  

But what we do know is the blueberry field yielded at least 25 lbs of blueberries today.  And there were still many many more ripe ones and many more than that that were still green.   We have weeks of blueberries ahead of us here in GroveAtopia.

Lots of people who live in town have blueberry bushes growing in their gardens.  I think there are even some growing at city hall.  But I like to pick out in the countryside.  It's quieter there. And to be in the midst of hundreds of blueberry bushes, picking them by the thousands, eating them along the way, so immersed that you see them when you close your eyes, is one of the pleasures of GroveAtopian summers.

So go ahead.  Go to the blueberries.  You know they are calling you.  And if you have any doubts, take a drive out to the blueberry field.  Then stop and listen.  If you still can't hear them, pick one.  You won't be able to resist after that.  And happily, there is no need to.